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Jay W. McGee

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James Wesley McGee (January 23, 1950 – January 8, 2021) was an American-Canadian musician.[1] He was most noted for several early rap singles released under the stage name Mr. Q, including "Ladies Delight", the first known Canadian hip hop single.[2]

Background

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A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, McGee moved to Flint, Michigan, in 1968 to work at the General Motors plant.[1] After visiting Toronto, Ontario, several times, he moved to the city in 1974.[1] In Toronto, he began to work as a musician, performing with bands such as Giant Step, Salongo and Crack of Dawn over the course of his career.[1]

Mr. Q

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In 1979, George Lewis of Monica’s Productions (later to become Scorpio Records) hired McGee to rap on "Ladies Delight", a response track to The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight".[2] Released just a few weeks after "Rapper's Delight", the song was based around a rerecording of the hook from Cameo's contemporaneous single "I Just Want to Be".[2] He recorded a number of other rap/hip hop songs over the next few months as Mr. Q, including "DJ Style", "Rapping Time", "Party, Party" and "Party Rapp"; "Party Rapp" included lyrics about the 1979 Mississauga train derailment, the first explicit indication in any of the Mr. Q singles that they were actually written and performed by Canadians.[2] "DJ Style" was included in the 2006 hip hop compilation album Big Apple Rappin'.[2]

He was also featured on Rap the Night Away, a 1981 album by Bobby Boyer and Demo Cates which has been credited as the first full-length Canadian hip hop album.[3]

Solo career

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He released the solo album Over & Over in 1982 under his own name.[1] The album featured the single "When We Party (Uptown, Downtown)", which was popular in dance clubs but did not become a charting breakthrough hit as McGee could not afford to undertake a major tour.[1] His single "Another Love in Your Life", from his 1988 album Survivor, received a Juno Award nomination for Best R&B Soul Recording at the Juno Awards of 1990.[4] In 1991, he was invited to sing "O Canada" at a Toronto Blue Jays game.[1]

Throughout his career, McGee also worked as an educational assistant and Black history teacher at Park Public School in the Regent Park neighbourhood of Toronto.[1]

In 1999, McGee moved back to Flint, where he worked as a church choir director and gospel music performer.[1] In 2016 he recorded a song, "Don't Drink the Water", about the Flint water crisis.[1] He released his seventh and final album, Smooth Cruising, in 2020, soon before his death in January 2021.[1]

McGee died from complications of COVID-19 in Flint, on January 8, 2021, at the age of 70.[5]

Discography

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Albums

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  • Rap the Night Away (1981, with Bobby Boyer and Demo Cates)
  • Over & Over (1982)
  • Survivor (1988)
  • I Hear Foot Steps (1998)
  • No Walls (2001)
  • Good Feeling (2015)
  • Smooth Cruising (2020)

Singles

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  • "Ladies Delight" (1979, as Mr. Q)
  • "DJ Style" (1979, as Mr. Q)
  • "Rapping Time" (1979, as Mr. Q)
  • "Party, Party" (1979, as Mr. Q)
  • "Party Rapp" (1979, as Mr. Q)
  • "Turn Me On" b/w "Your Love" (1980)
  • "She's Got the Papers But You Got the Key" (1981, with Sattalites)
  • "One Draw" (1981, with Sattalites)
  • "When We Party" (1982)
  • "Crack Attack" b/w "Destiny" (1986, with Jo Perri)
  • "21st Century Dreamer" (1986)
  • "I'm a Survivor" b/w "Blame It on the Moonlight" (1988 )
  • "My Baby Loves Me" b/w "If the Love Fits" (1988)
  • "Another Love in Your Life" b/w "Let's Do It Again" (1988)
  • "Good Feeling" (2015)
  • "Let's Fall in Love" (2015)
  • "Perfection" b/w "Love in Motion" (2017)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Scobie, Niel (May 2, 2021). "Jay W. McGee, a groundbreaking vocalist, songwriter and Juno nominee, always went back to the music of his father". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e Rancic, Michael (March 17, 2021). "Finding Mr. Q". Hazlitt. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  3. ^ Alessandro Porco, "The Evolution of Canadian Hip Hop". Maisonneuve, March 18, 2010.
  4. ^ "Up for Junos". Edmonton Journal, February 8, 1990.
  5. ^ Mr. James Wesley McGee